House of 1,000 Corpses
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DVD details
Actor: Bill Moseley, Chris Hardwick, Karen Black, Sheri Moon, Sid HaigBrand: Lions Gate
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 89 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-08-12
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Lions Gate
DVD Reviews of House of 1,000 Corpses
DVD Review: I don't like chicken and I HATE clowns, but I LOVE this film
Summary: 5 Stars
There's no middle ground with this movie - you love it or hate it. When the movie begins, we are watching the beginning of "Dr. Wolfenstein's Creature Feature Show." It's a show that characters in the movie would be watching if they had their television tuned to that channel. Then Wolfenstein's show cuts to a commercial break, and we see the commercial for "The Museum of Monsters and Madmen." The museum's owner is a strange clown named Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig). After Spaulding's commercial ends, the movie cuts to the neon sign outside of Spaulding's museum/gas station. This is when the storyline for House of 1000 Corpses begins. Inside, Spaulding is chatting with a friend. The rather disgusting conversation involves a Dr. Zaius action figure and sodomy. Then two would-be robbers show up. After taunting one robber, Spaulding takes them out, then inhales the fumes from his recently fired revolver. Then he steps on the last guy with his huge clown shoe and finishes him off. Then the opening credits roll, and we are serenaded by the awesome Rob Zombie heavy metal song called "House of 1000 Corpses". And during the opening credits we get to see lots of film clips of all sorts of things, ranging from a sunset to a guy's mouth being prodded by a dentist. The sequence for the opening credits pleasantly reminds me of various White Zombie and Rob Zombie music videos.
And what would this movie be without a group of youngsters who are little more than lambs being led to the slaughter? I imagine it's hard for anyone to empathize with these four youngsters. Bill (Rainn Wilson) is INCREDIBLY ANNOYING. Jerry (Chris Hardwick) may be funny at times, but he's also absurdly childish. Bill's girlfriend Mary (Jennifer Jostyn) and Jerry's girlfriend Denise (Erin Daniels) certainly aren't friendly people. But I like the girls. The sight of them complaining and (in the case of Mary) throwing tantrums always makes me smile. But what on earth are they doing with losers like Bill and Jerry?
After meeting Spaulding, the four run into the bizarre Firefly family, and hang out at their farmhouse. After supper, it's time for live entertainment - SHOWTIME. The show begins with Grandpa Firefly (Dennis Fimple) up on the stage screaming into the microphone so loud it makes the audience jump. Then he begins a raunchy stand-up comedy routine, which Jerry (and myself) find incredibly funny. But if it was any actor other than Fimple doing the routine, it wouldn't be funny. Then Baby's (Sheri Moon Zombie) stageshow begins, which I found amusing and disturbing at the same time. There's something about the way she looks in that wig and make-up (and especially the way she's lip-synching) that frightens me. As Baby continues "singing", she pinches Mary's cheek, a sight that made me laugh uproariously. Mary's reaction is unexpected, but equally hilarious. Their mutual hatred couldn't be more obvious than when the switchblade comes out. Then the four try to make a hasty retreat. What happens next as they try to escape is AWESOME. Let's just say it involves scarecrows and some severe beatings. Unsurprisingly, they don't escape. The four are at the mercy of the Fireflys for the rest of the movie.
I occasionally found myself cringing during the girls' scenes with Otis (excellently portrayed by Bill Moseley). Karen Black was good, but Rob Zombie made Mother Firefly a lot more psychotic in the sequel, so overall I preferred Leslie Easterbrook's portrayal. Fimple died before The Devil's Rejects was made. But it would've been nice if Grandpa's absence in the sequel was explained - like having Otis mention Grandpa recently died of natural causes, or something like that.
There's lots of cool stuff in this movie, such as the colorful dream sequences, Baby's daydream sequence (dancing in flames and lying naked with charred skeletons), the graffiti on the walls of the Fireflys' house, the "snuff film", the "head shots", the murder in the scary looking graveyard, the strange occult ritual, the ghouls, the blood on the cross, Otis' ceremonial make-up, and especially the underground tunnels (decorated with the remains of the dead). What Denise sees down there is probably some of the most terrifying imagery in cinematic history. Dr. Satan's first appearance is AWESOME. A victim is laid out in the doctor's surgical chair, and the person's head is peeled open like a banana, as Dr. Satan applies a drill to the exposed brain of the `patient'.
There's some hilarious parts too, like when Denise and Mary voice their reluctance to take Spaulding's Murder Ride, when Baby turns up the radio in the car, and when Otis kisses Mary on the mouth (which I also found disturbing), and the truck with a sign on the back that says "God is Dead." As it drives by, you can hear what sounds like a recording of a Christian fundamentalist preaching from a loudspeaker on the truck, while the movie's ominous background music is playing. There's no reason at all for that truck to be in the movie - but I LOVE how it's just there.
Rob Zombie's commentary is informative, and entertaining. So if the movie's ending doesn't make sense to you, listen to the commentary. I thought I had the ending figured out, but then I heard his commentary. It's a pretty cool ending, but I would've preferred it if the movie ended the way I initially assumed it ended.
Apparently, Mr. Zombie was often rewriting the script while he was filming the movie, and discarded lots of footage. I'd like to see a director's cut of this movie, or at least all of the deleted scenes. I'd love to see a House of 1000 Corpses Special Edition. That leads me to wonder - was the family actually supposed to have killed a thousand people, or was "The House of 1000 Corpses" just an exaggeration?
Description of House of 1,000 Corpses
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